May 24, 1918, 5:05 p.m.

To all workers of the Kineshma District. Comrade workers,

the village rich of grain-producing provinces are concealing and refusing to surrender enormous grain reserves for starving workers. The rich prefer to sell grain at insane speculative prices, which only the urban bourgeoisie can afford, but not the poorest, starving population. By speculating in grain, the rich seek also to speculate in goods which they receive in exchange for grain. The urban bourgeoisie is conducting agitation for the abolition of grain monopoly, fixed prices, and for the introduction of free grain trade. From agitation the bourgeoisie is passing over to provocation, cleverly and imperceptibly pushing hungry workers into outbreaks, unrest, and disorder, striving to seize power into their own hands. The Council of People's Commissars is fighting with all its might and defending the grain monopoly, without which only the bourgeoisie will flourish, while the poorest population will remain entirely without bread. Comrade workers, do not succumb to the provocation of dark forces, do not play into the hands of the bourgeoisie and counter-revolutionaries, who want to use your hands to rake coals into their fire and destroy all the conquests of the revolution. By your thoughtless outbreaks and independent commodity exchange do not introduce disorganization into the difficult work of obtaining bread for you. The Council of People's Commissars is now conducting on a vast scale the exchange of goods for grain, has begun requisitioning grain reserves from the village bourgeoisie with armed detachments. If you wish to help, to render assistance to your worker-peasant power, act in an organized manner: select from your midst the best knowledgeable